


Someone To Carry You Home

by hopkins



Category: South Park
Genre: Angst, Cryde Week 2018, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-26 08:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17138300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopkins/pseuds/hopkins
Summary: Seven drabbles for Cryde Week 2018. Each are connected in their own little way.





	1. Space

**Author's Note:**

> based on zella day's song "man on the moon"
> 
> i think of it as a craig song, sexual implications aside

The field of bright stars and dust floated around Craig, wrapping him in the sense of beauty and amazement. Being out in space sure was fucking amazing.

He felt so free, floating about without the strain of the gravitational pull. Of course, it’s not like he could go very far. His spaceship still had to be commanded, and going too far out would cause him to be lost in space. Not that he would mind, considering that he could then float off and touch the planets’ atmospheres and bathe in the stardust that gave galaxies their glow.

But that’s okay, he could always do that tomorrow.

Craig pulled on the cord that held him, drawing himself back towards his spaceship. As soon as he stepped onboard, he closed the hatch and made sure everything was secured before taking off of his helmet.

The following day was when Craig set foot on the moon. It had been difficult, but he managed to pull it off, and here he was. The skies were so dark, but so bright at the same time. This view always managed to take his breath away. Before embarking, he made a note as to where his spaceship was so that he wouldn’t lose it at some point on his journey. Soon afterwards he started to take small jumps across the surface, smiling a bit at how much freedom he had out here. He hopped higher and higher, not paying any mind to the boy that had been trailing him the entire time.

His feet hit the ground, but before he could take off again, another body slammed into his, grabbing hold of him and causing them to fly up from the surface. Craig had turned his head back in an attempt to see who it was, and sure enough there he was, the boy he’d known all of his life. His best friend to the end. Clyde fuckin’ Donovan. Craig had never smiled so large before in his entire life.

“Hey, dude,” the brunet beamed back, still holding onto Craig’s back.

Craig fondly rolled his eyes, “Yeah, hey. What are you doing out here?”

“I got bored, and I really missed you!” Of course.

“So… you went through all of that training and preparation just to see me?” Craig asked, feeling his face start to heat up as Clyde ecstatically nodded.

Craig playfully pushed Clyde off of him. “Idiot.” Clyde laughed at that.

“Well, c’mon, let’s go explore! I didn’t come all the way out here for nothing!” Clyde exclaimed, jumping forwards and practically touching the stars that were displayed above them. Craig smiled a little and followed after him, but only to tackle him to the ground when he finally was close enough. Clyde’s face was bright red as he looked up at Craig above him, lips easily melding into a warm, welcoming smile. Their helmets clinked together.

“I love you,” Craig blurted. Clyde didn’t answer at first, which worried Craig to a degree, but then Clyde opened his mouth to speak and-

Craig woke with a jolt. He was back down in his room, on Earth. He frowned, realizing that it was 4:27am and a Monday. He had to get ready for school in less than five hours. His last year of highschool was going to start, but the boy snuggling into his chest as he soundly slept made him less worried.

Maybe 12th grade wouldn’t be so bad, now that he knew Clyde would be there with him.


	2. Studying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it wasn't until i settled into bed last night that i had forgotten to post this chapter, so i suppose it's a double update day
> 
> semi-based off of "hurry, hurry" by air traffic controller, which is the song that i typically associate with clyde doing, well, anything

Alright, being a senior officially sucked ass.

It was their first day at school and already Clyde had been told about a test. A graded test that had 140 questions and two open-ended questions on it. A graded assessment with 140 questions and two open-ended questions on a book that Clyde didn’t read. Fuck.

He was currently waiting outside for his best friend so that they could walk home together. Unlike Clyde, Craig had actually read the book. Clyde spent most of his summer over at Craig’s house, whether it be just to hang out or for a sleepover. He’d woken up a good amount of times to hear Craig quietly reading the book to himself. Whether Craig had noticed him listening or not, he wasn't sure. But boy oh boy, Craig sure did have a beautiful voice when he read. But he couldn’t make out any of the words. Or maybe he just didn’t care about the words and wanted to listen to Craig’s voice.

A tap on the shoulder shook Clyde out of his thoughts. He grinned as soon as he saw Craig, showing the other boy that lopsided smile he always did.

“Jesus, I’ve been talking to you for two whole minutes and thought you were just making that dopy fucking face. But apparently you weren’t fucking listening,” Craig stated, shoving his hands in his coat pockets.

“Sorry,” Clyde responded, feeling his face grow hot.

“Whatever, asshat. It wasn’t important,” the noirette said, but sounded a little pouty. “C’mon, let’s just get home.” Clyde felt Craig sling his arm around him, causing them to start walking side by side.

Clyde wanted to tell Craig that he could repeat what he said, but there is absolutely no way that you can ever change Craig Tucker’s mind once he’s decided on something. It would be hopeless to even try, so he stayed silent as they walked. Clyde couldn’t stop thinking about Craig’s arm, though, and how close they were pressed together.

The silence between them is nice, but short-lived.

“I didn’t read the book,” Clyde blurts.

“And?”

“And we have this huge fucking test, dude. Like. It fucking sucks ass,” Clyde vents, knowing completely well that Craig was told the exact same thing. “I couldn’t read it. It’s just so boring. I hate it so much. When will the pace pick up? How long will it take for us to finally get to the climax of the story? What the fuck?”

Craig makes a rumbling noise in his throat as Clyde continues to talk about how much he disliked _Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry_. He’d only gotten to chapter two and threw the book down, apparently.

“I can’t read books paced like that! I don’t even like the plot, either! I mean, I looked on sparknotes to try and piece together what happened, and all I know is that some kid dies at the end. Or he supposedly dies. Something like that, anyways. Dude, I can’t with that book. I’m gonna die,” Clyde chatters on and Craig is trying his best not to blatantly laugh at him.

“Calm down, jackass,” Craig says when Clyde finally goes silent, “I’ll help you out with everything.” He unlocks the door to his house. His parents are still at work and Tricia went to hang out with Karen at the park, so the house is eerily silent. He knows how uncomfortable Clyde gets in such quiet atmospheres, so he flicks on the television to a rerun of Red Racer. The show has been on air for years now, and he often rants to Clyde about how bad the story has gotten. Or maybe he’s just too old to be watching it now.

They set their stuff down and Clyde fishes out the study guide. He’s answered a few questions already, but only because he saw them on sparknotes. Everything else is what Clyde doesn’t know. He’s answered nine out of forty-eight questions. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Craig takes out his own study guide, but his is completely filled out. The open-ended response is the only thing he has yet to complete.

Clyde’s mouth scrunches up at the corner just a little as he looks over to Craig, watching as he pulls his copy of the book from his backpack. Ah. Clyde left his copy in his locker. Craig’s eyes meet his and Clyde quickly recovers, looking back down at his paper as if he hadn’t been staring at his best friend.

“Uh. Can I use yours? I left mine at school,” Clyde mumbles, digging through his bag for a pencil.

Craig fondly rolls his eyes. “Fine, but you owe me. Dumbass.” He hands the novel over and Clyde starts flipping through the pages.

“Question one is in the fourth chapter,” Craig says, picking up his own mechanical pencil and starting to write down his response to the question.

“Thanks,” Clyde mumbles and flips through the pages, scanning over the pages until he finds what he’s looking for. He circles letter B.

It goes on like that: Craig telling Clyde which chapters to find the answers in and Craig constantly erasing and rewriting his responses. Soon enough it’s five o’clock and Clyde’s stomach makes that annoying grumbling noise. Craig eyes him, quirking an eyebrow.

“Hungry?” He asks, and Clyde’s face flushes.

“Um. Yeah,” the brunet responds with, then suddenly perks up. “Can we go to Taco Bell?”

Craig does his best not to scoff or roll his eyes. Of fucking course Clyde would ask to go there of all places.

“We just went there yesterday, dude.”

“Yeah, but I got the wrong thing yesterday!” Clyde whines, giving Craig that puppy-dog look.

“Well that’s your own fault. Let’s just order a pizza. It’s easier and you can finish the study guide without getting too distracted.”

“Fine,” Clyde sighs, defeated. Craig smiles to himself and picks up his phone, dialing the number he’s called so many times over the summer break and orders their usual. Twenty-two minutes later the pizza arrives and Craig pays, slamming the door in the delivery boy’s face after tipping him a decent amount. He sits down beside Clyde and sets the box down on the coffee table.

Clyde makes the first move and opens the lid, carefully selecting his slice. Craig watches with some amusement as Clyde bites into it, his brown eyes going wide as he realizes that it’s way too hot and rips it from his mouth. He takes the thermos of water out from his bag and quickly gulps it down to try and cool his tongue down. A few droplets of water spill out from the corner of his mouth, but he doesn’t pay them any mind. Clyde’s eyes meet his as he sets the thermos back down, wiping his chin clear of the stray water droplets.

“Dude stop staring,” Clyde says, giving Craig a weird look.

“Well, it’s hard not to stare when you’re being an idiot.” Clyde shoves him at that, and Craig lightly pushes him back.

“‘Kay, c’mon. We gotta finish this before your dad calls you and tells you to go home.”

“Or, y’know, I could just spend the night again. I got Smash Ultimate for us to play.”

Study nights with Clyde sure kick ass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [kahlvin-cycle.tumblr.com](http://kahlvin-cycle.tumblr.com)


	3. Emotions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's a little late, as well. hopefully i'm able to catch back up, though!
> 
> inspired by the antlers' song "putting the dog to sleep" (music seems to be my only inspiration nowadays)

It’s October when something puts a strain on Craig and Clyde’s friendship.

Clyde hadn’t visited Craig in a few days, and that in itself was worrying. The boy had also been completely avoiding Craig for some unknown reason, and it really pulled on his heartstrings. Now, this wasn’t the first time that Clyde had stopped hanging out with Craig for a while. But it was the first that he had stopped hanging out with Craig in favour of other people.

The only other times when Clyde had completely paused any social interactions was when his mother died and when Rex had to be put down.

Now, Craig didn’t show any signs that he was bothered by the sudden withdrawal of his best friend. He was good at hiding his feelings, he trained himself to hide his feelings. Or, he was trained to hide his feelings. The Tucker family was pretty reserved, save for maybe Thomas Tucker at times. But all-in-all, they just weren’t the emotional type. They were counted as social outcasts. The Donovans were too, but it’s because they show _too_ _much_ emotion.

But when they were actually upset and needed to express it to somebody, Clyde would be the one to completely shut everyone out and not say a word. Craig was the one to make a huge deal out of it, typically not being able to stop blubbering.

So Clyde wasn’t really upset about anything. Maybe he just got tired of Craig..? It’s been almost 13 years since they first became friends, and it was possible that they would drift apart. But Craig didn’t think it would happen before they graduated highschool. Or even at all. They’d always been so close.

And it didn’t help that Craig only recently realized that he’d been harbouring feelings towards his (possibly now ex) best friend.

He sat on the on stairs of the Donovan’s house, waiting for Clyde. He wouldn’t be getting out of this one. Craig needed answers.

Sure enough, the brunet came into eyesight, texting someone on his phone. He hadn’t noticed Craig until he reached the door, almost dropping his phone in the process.

He gulped, “H-Hey, Craig.” He seemed nervous, almost like he was expecting this to happen eventually.

“Hey, Clyde,” Craig responded, standing up. He was a whole foot taller than Clyde, who stood at only 5’3”. Craig always made fun of him for being so short. “What are you doing?”

Clyde stuffed his phone into his back pocket, drumming his fingers on his thigh. It was a nervous habit he had, and it made Craig quirk an eyebrow.

“Um. Going inside?” Clyde said, looking up at the taller boy.

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Clyde fell silent, furrowing his eyebrows. Interesting.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong? Because you’ve been acting like a total dick lately, dude,” Craig says, folding his arms.

“Uh. Um.” Clyde looks around him. “Okay, yeah, I’m sorry. Just. Can we go inside and deal with this? It’s fucking freezing.”

“Sure,” Craig says and steps aside so Clyde can unlock the door. But when he steps through, he almost locks Craig out. But Craig had jammed his bag in the door and managed to push the door open to walk inside the house himself.

He closes the front door behind him and leans back on it, setting his bag down on the floor beside him.

“Alright jackass, what are you trying to pull?” Craig’s actually pissed off at this point. Just the mere fact that Clyde would even attempt to lock him outside is infuriating.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I just. Don’t want to talk about it,” Clyde says, setting his own bag down on the sofa. The pictures that once hung above them are gone now, Craig notices. Maybe it’s something with his mom?

“Bullshit,” Craig spits, not caring if he’s being the dick now. Clyde needs to know that he can actually talk about his feelings when someone’s around, and that it’s okay to be upset sometimes. Alright, maybe Craig is a bit of a hypocrite for thinking that, but that doesn’t matter right now.

Clyde is silent again, but only for a moment.

“It’s my dad. He’s, um. He’s seeing someone.”

Oh.

“Really? That’s it? That’s why you’ve been ignoring me for the past two weeks?” Craig asks, not masking the bitterness in his voice.

That’s not it, Craig knows for a fact that something else is wrong.

“Yeah. Sorry, I’m just. Having trouble processing it.”

“Then why are you hanging out with Stan and Kyle instead of me?” Craig is practically spitting venom at this point, and he knows Clyde is going to end up crying. But he doesn’t care. Clyde deserves it for pulling shit like this.

“Look, it’s fucking complicated, okay? You’re a fucking asshole for accusing me of doing everything wrong!” Clyde yells right back, the tears already gathering up in his eyes. Craig feels a little bad now that it’s actually happening. Clyde usually doesn’t get this emotional during any of their fights; he usually only ever gets teary-eyed and doesn’t really yell so much.

“Well, I’m sorry that your dad is starting to heal and actually trying to find someone to be happy with. You should be fucking grateful that he hasn’t disowned you for what you did.” As soon as the sentence ends, Craig slaps a hand over his mouth. Clyde doesn’t say anything back, and he doesn’t cry. Craig _really_ fucked up this time.

They’re both silent for a while, neither of them moving or doing anything.

“Clyde, I’m sorry, I-”

“Yeah, whatever, Craig. You’re not the first person to say that.” He’s being blunt, already going into his state of “you’re a boy, you shouldn’t get so emotional over things.” Craig feels awful, knowing fully well that he did the one thing that he said Clyde shouldn’t do: hide his feelings.

“You can be mad at me,” Craig says, helplessly.

“No, no. You’re exactly right. My dad should hate me for involuntarily murdering my own mother. I should be rotting six feet under, not her,” Clyde says, so slowly and calmly that Craig can hear the alarms blaring in his head.

“Don’t say that,” Craig says, debating whether or not he should approach Clyde. He’s practically a ticking time bomb, collected and calm until he blows up.

“Well, that’s what you implied, isn’t it?”

Now Craig’s the one who isn’t sure what to say. But that’s fine, because Clyde is talking again.

“You know what I hate about you? I hate how much of an asshole you are. There, I admitted it. You’re a fucking douche, Craig. You mess with people’s feelings and then act like it’s not your fault. But you know what? It is. I don’t even know why I’m so fucking in love with you. You hurt people and then blame it on the person you hurt, not even thinking twice about it,” Clyde says, still not facing Craig. He’s messing with the strap adjusters on his bookbag, which is another nervous habit of his.

“You always do this without realizing it,” Clyde continues. “Or, at least I think you do. But it’s still really shitty to do to somebody.”

Craig lets the words sink in when Clyde falls silent once more. Clyde loves him? God, he hates that he had to admit it like this, but…

“I really am sorry, Clyde,” Craig says, finally taking a step towards the other boy. “I know I’m a shitty person. I shouldn’t have done that to you. I’m really sorry.”

Clyde finally looks up at him, and Craig hadn’t noticed the tears flowing down his face before. Craig can feel his heart break even more than it did before.

“I hate you. I hate you so much. I-I. It’s practically masochistic for me to keep running back to you when you fucking hurt me all of the time,” Clyde mumbles, closing his eyes and looking down at the floor.

Craig steps even closer, cautiously brushing the brunet’s hair back to kiss his forehead. Clyde wraps his arms around the other’s waist, digging his head into his chest.

“Stop doing that to me,” he mumbles.

“I’m sorry,” Craig says one more time, but he knows Clyde won’t forgive him. Not this time. He went too far.

“It’s okay,” Clyde says, and that genuinely surprises Craig. “You didn’t mean it.”

Craig can feel himself frown and combs a hand through Clyde’s hair again. Then Clyde moves back, staring up at Craig. He’s not crying anymore.

“I really do love you.” His voice is so soft.

“I know,” Craig finds himself responding with. “I do too.”

“...are you fucking with me again? Because I’m being serious,” Clyde says, and Craig shakes his head.

“I’m not messing with you. I’m being genuine.”

Clyde leans up to kiss him, and Craig kisses him back.

It’s all going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [kahlvin-cycle.tumblr.com](http://kahlvin-cycle.tumblr.com)


	4. Peace & Quiet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> surprisingly, this one isn't based off of a song
> 
> also, i'm fairly far behind due to my work schedule being completely thrown off due to certain circumstances. but i'm officially off tomorrow (but then back again on monday...), so hopefully i'll be able to finish up cryde week

It’s a Sunday in November when things actually seem… normal for once. In fact, everything is so normal that there’s hardly any noise coming from the outside world. You’d think there were some sort of apocalypse or a mute spell that was cast on the townsfolk, but no, there’s just nothing happening.

There’s no Stan, no Kyle, no anybody out there who messed with anything or any demons or celebrities coming through the town to cause a ruckus. It’s nice for once.

The peacefulness of South Park gives Clyde the chance to slip out of his house and go to a place he found years ago, right after his mother’s death. It’s past Stark’s Pond, all the way back in the woods and up in the mountains near a cliff. Since its discovery, he’s been sneaking out as often as he could to renovate and fix it up for himself. It’s his escape place, somewhere he can go when things take a turn for the worst in his life. It’s also just a place for him to just go out and get away from people for a while.

The old treehouse has stood there for years, possibly even since before he was born. But it’s been kept intact, made with a strong type of wood. Maybe oak, or possibly even hickory. He assumed the latter. Still, it was expertly built. Maybe it wasn’t as cool as his Fortress of Darkness from back in 4th grade, but nothing could compare to that. He poured his heart and soul into building that, only to have it taken down and reduced to nothing but the wooden planks he once used as a ladder. His dad just didn’t want to have to deal with anymore broken limbs, especially since his arm had been put in such horrible condition after Cartman kicked him off of the top balcony.

Clyde had successfully finished rebuilding the treehouse a few months prior. It was warm and protected him from the cold in winter, but also kept him cool in the summer. It was the perfect spot, with the view of South Park and the river that flowed not too far away. The sun rose just out past the trees to the left of the window, and it set to the right.

Everything about it was perfect. Well, almost.

Stepping up to the Tucker’s house, Clyde knocked on the door and stepped back once he heard heavy footsteps making their way closer to his spot. Thomas swung the door open, staring down at the boy.

“You lookin’ fer Craig?” He asked, and Clyde vigorously nodded his head. If there was one person that every kid in town was afraid of, it was Thomas Tucker. He stood at 6’4” and was a very large man. Despite having little-to-no emotions a good portion of the time, his anger could bubble up at a single word. Everyone knew what the man was capable of, how strong he was, and the fear instilled in them was a small warning.

He’d been very suspicious of Clyde lately. Sure, he and Craig were best friends, but the sheer amount of time that they’d been spending together lately was odd. And Thomas was pretty certain that no two boys share a bed in nothing but underwear and socks.

He almost looked like he was about to say something, but then Craig showed up at the door.

“I’ll be home for dinner,” he said, then pushed past his father and walked by Clyde, vaguely motioning him to follow.

They heard the sound of the door closing and that was that.

“What’s this place you wanted to show me, again?” Craig asked, reaching down to take Clyde’s hand in his.

“It’s a surprise,” Clyde responded, curling his fingers together with Craig’s and shooting him a grin. It’s lopsided, as always.

They’re silent as Clyde leads them through the town, still as quiet as when he’d woken up earlier to get everything ready. On days like this, it’s strange for it to be anything other than a dream. There aren’t too many normal days in South Park, but that’s what makes the mountain town so intriguing, Clyde supposes. They pass by Stark’s Pond, which still hasn’t frozen over yet, and head into the woods.

As they delve deeper and deeper into the forest, Craig has the sinking feeling that they may be lost, that Clyde doesn’t know where they’re going and is just aimlessly dragging him along. But soon enough, the trees part and reveal a clearing with some sort of structure placed right in the center. It’s not until they’re closer that he realizes that it’s a treehouse, freshly painted and decorated with LED light bulbs. Clyde lets go off his hand as they finally set foot in the clearing.

“Um. Okay,” Clyde says, clapping his hands together. He’s not entirely sure what to say, now that he’s brought Craig here. “I know this is kinda dumb, but. This place just means a lot to me, and I wanted to share it with you.” Craig’s green eyes meet Clyde’s own caramel ones, which were fairly wide as the boy waited for some sort of response.

“Race you,” Craig says, and Clyde doesn’t process the words until Craig starts to sprint towards the treehouse. Clyde feels a smile tug onto his face again and runs after the other, tackling him to the ground right before he can reach the barky surface of the tree. They roll around on the ground as the first snowflakes fall, and eventually they’re both on their backs, staring up at the sky. Craig watches Clyde from the corner of his eye as the brunet attempts to catch the snowflakes on his tongue. He can’t help but chuckle a little as Clyde cheers, proud of himself for accomplishing such a feat.

And then he looks over, catching Craig’s gaze as he leans over, pressing their lips together as snow continues to fall around them.

The quieter days of South Park are always the best, he decides.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [kahlvin-cycle.tumblr.com](http://kahlvin-cycle.tumblr.com)


End file.
